on focus

Lord

We come into your presence carrying many things Responsibilities, expectations, good intentions, and the intense pressure to get everything right.

Like Martha, we love you. We want to serve you well. We open our homes, our schedules, our lives— but somewhere along the way, our hearts have become crowded.

Your word tells us Martha was distracted by much serving. Not distracted by sin. Not distracted by rebellion. Distracted by good things. Good things that slowly pulled her away from the best thing.

Oh how often do we do the same God? We fill our days with motion but we starve our souls of your presence

We talk about You. We work for you. We serve you— more than we simply sit with you.

Mary chose a posture of surrender. You were in the room and she sat at your feet. She listened. She was still when everything else demanded movement.

And you said she chose what is better. Not what is easier. Not what is more productive. But what is eternal.

Jesus give us wisdom Give us discernment Help us recognize when our service is replacing our intimacy. When our noise is drowning out your voice. When all of our doing is diminishing our devotion.

We don’t want to be anxious and upset about many things when only one thing is needed. We don’t want to miss you while working for you.

Today, we lay our distractions down. We lay down the urgent tasks begging for our attention. We lay down all the things we think we need to buy, the goals we think we need to reach, the comparisons we keep making. We lay down the need to prove ourselves.

We are tired of carrying this weight. We are desperate to release it— and just listen.

We are tired of the show. We just want your presence.

We choose you. Not the version of you that fits neatly into our schedule, but the God who invades our every moment. The God that is the creator of time, humanity, heaven and earth.

Let us not be satisfied with a good worship band or with a preaching with routines or rehearsed prayers.

No Lord-we need you. We have to have you. We are completely desperate for you.

Give us the heart of Moses, who said the promised land was not enough without your presence. Teach us to love you like that.

A new house, a spouse, more money, children, vacations—
all of it, Lord—
it is not enough
if You are not there with us.

I don’t want any of it if you are not there.

We don’t want the blessing without the Blesser.
We don’t want anything in all creation without our Creator. We don’t want the promise without Your presence.
We would rather be in the desert with You
than anywhere else without You.

So today, like Mary, we choose what is better. We sit at your feet. We fix our eyes on our first love.

Show us your glory God. Put a serious fear in our hearts so that we may never turn away from you. So that when we are confronted with good things that are not you, we are not overcome by them. We are not easily distracted. Teach us to remain in you.

In your heavenly name we pray Amen